Glenwood Wetlands II

Glenwood Wetlands II - Global : The students of the Glenwood House Environment Society created this diverse ecosystem on an area of muddy grass on their school grounds in 2009. In the last four years, our soggy world has flourished and attracted tens of species of insect, six species of

The students of the Glenwood House Environment Society created this diverse ecosystem on an area of muddy grass on their school grounds in 2009. In the last four years, our soggy world has flourished and attracted tens of species of insect, six species of frog and many indigenous birds. Our school wetland is fed by rainwater and fills and empties with the seasons. It holds back huge volumes of water from flooding our rugby pitch, during heavy rains and stores this water during dry periods. Wetland plants filter the water, trap sediment and add oxygen. This wonderful wetland also offers a place of shelter for a huge community of organisms.

The Environment Society has constructed an ‘Insect Hotel’ from natural materials. The bricks, dry grass, pine cones, clay and old carpet will provide nesting sites for breeding insects and to encourage further diversity.

In an effort to protect our beautiful wetland biome, we avoid all chemical herbicides and pesticides. We pull weeds by hand and use bark mulch between the plants to keep weeds down. We don’t allow the removal of any wildlife from the area and avoid disturbing birds’ nests. The society does a regular litter pick and we have removed all the alien Black Wattle trees surrounding the biome. We use our wetland as an outdoor classroom and we have even had other schools visit us for fieldwork excursions! Our wetland work helped the Glenwood House Environmental Society snag the prestigious ‘2013 WESSA National Award for a Group’.